Cases of water, boxes of food and supplies Giselle Irizzary and her family collected to send to San Juan and Aguada, Puerto Rico was supposed to be on a plane Friday.

Yulín Cruz countered in an interview on MSNBC that the only goal right now is to save lives, adding that she "has no time for distractions".

Critics tore into President Trump after he targeted the mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico, with "Hamilton" creator Lin-Manuel Miranda among the loudest lashing back in response to the president's Saturday morningTwitter rant.

"Such poor leadership ability by the mayor of San Juan and others in Puerto Rico, who are not able to get their workers to help", Trump said.

"...want everything to be done for them when it should be a community effort".

Following requests from Puerto Rico's governor, Trump on Thursday authorized that shipping restrictions, via the Jones Act, be waived immediately for the island over the next 10 days.

"I know the good heart of the American people and I know that when a mayday sound goes off, they come to the rescue, " she said on ABC's "This Week". "I'm begging anyone who can hear us to save us from dying".

Ohio's Republican governor John Kasich, who challenged Mr Trump for the Republican nomination previous year, also voiced criticism of the President's comments.

Mayor Cruz made this impassioned plea for help - "We are dying", she told the media and the world.

"All buildings now inspected for safety", wrote Trump, who will head to Puerto Rico on Tuesday to survey hurricane damage.

Ortiz said she did not know how to thank him.

"They were driving around and saw that they had a bar on their phone and pulled over on the highway to call me real quick", she said. She drew a sharp rebuke from the city's mayor for saying Thursday that the federal relief effort is "a good news story". It is unclear if he was praising first responders again or others in the US territory.

A reporter asked her if that had happened to San Juan since her comments Saturday. "We want them to be safe and sound and secure, and we'll be there every day until that happens", POTUS promised.

"The three-star general is on his way, if he's not already arrived in Puerto Rico, to evaluate the response and what the requirements are".